Mr. Speaker, I have a point of order arising out of question period relating to a response by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. I was quite startled by his claim that in the 10 years of the Conservative government, zero cases were pursued in response to acts of terrorism. That is what he cited to this House. What is startling about it is that as a Toronto area member, he seems to forget the Toronto 18 case that was not only pursued, but also prosecuted.

I accept that the hon. member is attempting to raise a point of order. The nature of his intervention really seems to be a point of debate as to the facts that were presented in the House this afternoon. He may wish to take that up under other parts of the rubric that permit him to do so here in the House of Commons.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Official Languages entitled “Certificate of Nomination of Raymond Théberge to the Position of Commissioner of Official Languages”.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 21st report of the Standing Committee on Finance entitled, “Driving Inclusive Growth: Spurring Productivity And Competitiveness In Canada”.

I want to especially thank committee members of all parties for their long hours and diligent work, and the public for their input, with over 400 submissions made and over 300 witnesses appearing. Finally, I want to thank the clerk of the committee, Suzie Cadieux; the analysts, Brett Capstick and Andrew Barton; and the research assistants, Shaowei Pu and Stephanie Stark.

I am hopeful that the summary of this report, which includes some 92 recommendations, will assist the government in moving forward to assist the business community and persons in this country into becoming more competitive and productive so that we become a more prosperous society for Canadians well into the future.

Before I introduce its contents, I thank the chairman of the finance committee for presiding over a very well-executed study. Even though the conversations were interesting and much information was produced, the final report by the majority was, in our view, flawed.

As a result, we introduce a dissenting report. In it, we call on the government to cancel any and all tax increases, including, but not limited to, those imposed on diabetics, autistic people, and others to whom the government has suddenly denied the disability tax credit.

I am pleased to report to the House that just today, even before we had the opportunity to formally table this dissenting report, it appears the government is relenting under pressure by the official opposition and reinstating the disability tax credit for type 1 diabetics. I am very pleased to learn it is backing down from this cold-hearted tax increase it had attempted to put into place back in May of this year.

We will be watching very carefully to ensure this is not yet another head fake by the government to deceive people who are suffering and are vulnerable. We will continue to hold the government to account if it tries to target other vulnerable people with tax increases.

In addition to that recommendation, our dissenting report takes the broad view that the government should emphasize free markets and free enterprise as the greatest hope to eliminate poverty and expand opportunity for everyone. That contrasts with the big government central planning that the main report proposes and the overall direction of the government, which is impose higher costs, heavier regulations, and more severe burdens on the people who pay the bills in our country.

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured and proud to rise today to table a petition on behalf of constituents in my riding, in their call for the establishment of a national cycling strategy.

With rising and soaring health care costs, infrastructure costs, and the need to tackle greenhouse gases, the petitioners call on the government to establish a strategy with clear targets so we can join countries like the Netherlands, Norway, France, and Germany, all of which have increased cycling and have helped create the necessary safe infrastructure so they can become cycling nations.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition respecting the troubling political situation in Cambodia, where there have been gross human rights violations and an undermining of democracy by Hun Sen's regime.

The petitioners note that Hun Sen's regime has been in violation of the Paris agreements by undermining democracy and repeatedly violating human rights. They also note that Canada is a signatory to the Paris agreement.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to exert political pressure on the Cambodian government to honour the Paris agreement and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, appeal to the signatory governments of the Paris agreement to address to the current crisis in Cambodia and the failure of the Cambodian government under Prime Minister Hun Sen to respect human rights and democracy, and to call for international support to monitor election rights, support the national election commission, and support only a free and fair process during the upcoming general elections in 2018.

Mr. Speaker, public and private drug plans often leave thousands of Manitobans, in fact many more Canadians, with little or no coverage when it comes to prescribed medications.

The petition, signed by many constituents in Winnipeg North and others, asks the Government of Canada to work with the premiers to look at ways we could possibly change the Canada Health Act and have a universal drug plan for all Canadians.

The first one is from 26 petitioners, regarding Bill C-51 and religious freedoms.

The petitioners draw the attention of the House to the potential removal of section 176 of the Criminal Code, which they say is the only section that protects faith leaders from malicious interference with funerals, rituals, and other assemblies of any faith. They also draws the attention of the House to Bill C-305, which was passed earlier in the year, and drawing some allusions to it.

The petitioners ask the government to abandon any attempt to repeal section 176 of the Criminal Code and to stand up for the rights of all Canadians to practise their religion without fear, recrimination, violence, or discrimination.

Mr. Speaker, my second petition is on the proposed small business tax changes. It is signed by 65 constituents of mine.

The petitioners draw the attention of the House to the fact that Canadians have not been given adequate time to be consulted and to provide feedback. They say that family businesses will suffer the most, because it is essential to their retirement plans and rewards risks inherent in starting a small business. They also say that small businesses, doctors, family farms, and others would also be unfairly penalized.

The petitioners ask the Government of Canada to abandon its unfair tax proposals and defend Canadian businesses as the main driver of the economy.

Mr. Speaker, my third petition is on the forced disappearances of political and human rights activists in the Sindh Province in Pakistan. I want to thank two of my constituents especially, Asif Panhwar and Max Memon. There are 33 signatures on the petition.

The petitioners draw the attention of the House to the fact that 160 people have gone missing since February 2017, without any information on their whereabouts. Everyone missing so far is either a political worker, a human rights activist, or journalist/writer, who has raised their voices in the cause of human rights of Sindhi people. They say that over 1,200 cases of missing persons in Sindh have been reported since 2010 and most of the victims have turned up dead, with signs of having been tortured and murdered.

The petitioners ask that the Canadian government urge the Pakistani government to stop the human rights violations against the Sindhi people committed by Pakistani security agencies and that aid to Pakistan should be tied to its human rights record. They say that Canadian aid dollars should not be used to support these agencies that are kidnapping, torturing, and murdering their own citizens.

With regard to comments made by the Minister of Finance on October 19, 2017, that he has recused himself “at least twice” in order to avoid a conflict of interest: (a) how many times has the Minister recused himself in order to avoid a conflict of interest; and (b) for each instance in (a), (i) what was the topic or item, (ii) on what date did the Minister become aware that the item could cause a conflict of interest, (iii) on what date did the Minister recuse himself, (iv) on what date did the Minister report his recusal to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner?

Mr. Speaker, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner is an independent officer of the House of Commons who administers the Conflict of Interest Act and the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons. The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner is responsible for helping appointed and elected officials prevent and avoid conflicts between their public duties and private interests.

As per her recommendations, the conflict of interest screen is administered by the minister’s chief of staff and supported by the department. Instances that are caught by the conflict of interest screen are reported to the Ethics Commissioner’s office.

Minister Morneau continues to work closely with the Ethics Commissioner to ensure all the rules are being followed, and has gone above and beyond her recommendations.

With regard to the announcement made by the Minister of Finance in Hampton, New Brunswick, on October 18, 2017: why was the Member of Parliament for Saint John—Rothesay not invited to attend the announcement?

With regard to First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and Assembly of First Nations v. Attorney General of Canada (representing the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada), Canadian Human Rights Tribunal File No. T134017008: what are the total legal costs incurred by the government in this matter since January 25, 2016?

Mr. Speaker, to the extent that the information that has been requested is protected by solicitor-client privilege, the federal crown asserts that privilege and, in this case, has waived that privilege only to the extent of revealing the total legal costs. Justice lawyers, notaries, and paralegals are salaried public servants and therefore no external legal costs were incurred. Based upon the hours recorded, client departments are charged an internal government rate. In this case, the calculation amounts to $807,000 since January 29, 2016.

With regard to Statistics Canada's Table 204-0001, “High income trends of tax filers in Canada, provinces and territories, and census metropolitan areas (CMA), national thresholds annual (percent)”, for 2015 and 2016, and broken down by year: (a) what is the number of tax filers in the (i) top 1%, (ii) top 10%, (iii) bottom 50%; and (b) what is the percentage of federal and provincial or territorial income tax paid as a percentage of total tax paid for each group in (a)?

Mr. Speaker, with regard to Statistics Canada's Table 204-0001, ''High income trends of tax filers in Canada, provinces and territories, and census metropolitan areas (CMA), national thresholds annual (percent)'', for 2015 and 2016, and broken down by year, the 2015 update will be released on November 15, 2017. Data for 2016 will be released the following November, 2018.

With regard to the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Hudson: (a) when will the ship be back in service; (b) why did the refit of the ship not meet its original completion date and has the refit of the ship been delayed; (c) will the refit be completed under the original $4 million budget and, if not, what is the new budget; (d) how many voyages and research missions have been cancelled as a result of the delay; (e) what are the details of the cancellations in (d); and (f) what are the details of any briefing notes related to the ship, including for each the (i) recipient, (ii) date, (iii) sender, (iv) title, (v) summary, (vi) file number?

Mr. Speaker, with regard to part (a), on November 13, 2017, the CCGS Hudson arrived at its home base of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Further work, which has been planned for many months, will be undertaken on the Hudson in preparation for its 2018 programming which is projected to commence on April 4, 2018.

With regard to part (b), the refit of the vessel did not meet its original completion date, as the refit work being carried out by a contractor was not completed on time.

With regard to part (c), the contract for the refit has not been amended to increase the budget. A determination of the final budget cannot be made at this time, as Public Services and Procurement Canada is reviewing the terms of the contract with the original shipyard.

With regard to part (d), a total of seven science missions were impacted due to the unavailability of the CCGS Hudson for the 2017 field season. Of those, one mission was conducted on another Coast Guard vessel, four requests for proposals were issued to carry out other missions on charter vessels, one mission was cancelled outright, and another mission was substantially reduced.

With regard to part (e), the two missions involving cancellations are as follows. The majority of the Atlantic zone off-shelf monitoring program, AZOMP, mission scheduled for May 2017 was cancelled as the initial attempt to charter a vessel was unsuccessful. Some of the high-priority activities, namely the recovery of a subsurface oceanographic mooring and the deployment of Argo floats in the Labrador Sea, have been rescheduled on other Coast Guard vessels. The Natural Resources Canada Baffin Bay geoscience mission had to be cancelled, as no charter was available for the required time frame to conduct the mission.

With regard to part (f), (i) Commissioner Thomas; (ii) September 13, 2016; (iii) Gregory Lick, Director General, Operations; (iv) Memorandum for the Commissioner Vessel Life Extension of CCGS Hudson; (v) The memo seeks effective project approval and spending authority to proceed with the vessel life extension of the CCGS Hudson, at a cost of $26.6 million. The memo also explains that the department will manage project expenditures until the funds become available in fall 2016. (vi) GCCMS: 2016-012-00707; EKME#3656821.

Not all briefing notes are included, pursuant to the government security policy and/or the Access to Information Act.